Rocketman123:
So the ending reality to what happened to Jerusalem and the surrounding area is that it was under servitude for almost 70 years by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar but was only laid desolate for approximately 47 +/- a couple of years after he finally destroyed much of the city including the main temple in 586 BCE, captivating much of the predominant inhabitants to Babylon.
There are we all happy now ?
The WTS's dating of Jerusalem's destruction in 607 BCE has little or no background support from various confirmed sources including the bible.
Turn the page and move on .
I know these things have been done to death on this forum, but new readers come along all the time and it may be the first time they're seeing these issues.
Aside from that, there are some minor issues with your summary:
- Babylon's 70 years can be viewed as a round period, but the period from Babylon's conquest of Assyria in 609 BCE until Persia's conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE is exactly 70 years.
- The period from the destruction of Jerusalem until the Jews returned to Judea is 49 years, which is the period indicated at Leviticus 25:8 (bear in mind that Leviticus was completed during the Persian period, so the reference to this duration is almost certainly not just a coincidence).
- Jerusalem was definitely destroyed in 587 BCE, being the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar including accession year and 18th year excluding accession year.
- Most of the Jews had already been exiled in early 597 BCE.